


The View from October

by the_mixed_up_files_of_me



Category: The View from Saturday - E. L. Konigsburg
Genre: Gen, I couldn't resist writing a fic about it, The View from Saturday is an Actual Blessing of a book, and it deserves some fandom love, seriously read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 06:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11397132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_mixed_up_files_of_me/pseuds/the_mixed_up_files_of_me
Summary: Ethan's brother's wedding brings things more full circle than he had ever anticipated.





	The View from October

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so The View From Saturday is an actual masterpiece of literature and I love it with my entire being. It's rare to find such characters with so much heart and kindness and love for each other. Not only is E.L Konigsburg brilliantly funny and insightful through the novel, she writes with wisdom and understanding while creating ageless and timeless characters.  
> Which is why I seriously think that The View From Saturday deserves more recognition and attention and fandom love. There are a lot of references to the original book in this fic and it may be a little confusing but don't hesitate to ask about it! My writing pales in comparison to Konigsburg's but I am so happy to share my newest writing with you all! Hugs and love and happy reading! ♡

A wedding had brought the Souls together. It seems fitting for them to come full circle.

Ethan just doesn't expect the wedding to be his older brother Lucas'.

Technically, he should have seen it coming. Lucas had mentioned meeting a girl in college. After returning home and while waiting for the endless job opportunities to knock, Lucas called her. A lot.

Noah commented on Lucas a few weeks before the engagment announcement. Noah said that Lucas had the dazed look of a man either in love or suffering from severe neurological damage.

Nadia seemed to think this was humorous.

For a few weeks, so did Ethan. Until Lucas had the Girlfriend In Question come over for dinner. Lucas has a deep passion for all things dramatic and theatrical which was evident in his proposal. He asked her the question in grand fashion. A performer to the final curtain call.

She said yes, naturally.

Shortly thereafter, Lucas made the announcement that he is going to move with her away from New York to Florida, where Ethan's extended family is. A new state, a new start with a new wife. Epiphany New York is not big enough to hold in Lucas Potter, the young man with too large of aspirations to be chained in.

It doesn't take Ethan long to realise that his brother's official absence from the town leaves him with no older brother to live in the shadow of. This sudden onset of knowledge is more disconcerting than Ethan permits himself to show. Ethan doesn't know whether to be at peace with this or subdued; he relays his feelings to the only people that will ever understand without ever mocking or judging.

The Souls understand how is was possible for him to feel both.

 

-

 

Rubbing his ivory monkey between his fingertips during the wedding ceremony, Julian worries about Ethan.

The moment he first saw Ethan, he knew Ethan lived in his brother's shadow. Everything about Ethan radiates the presence of being pushed around and overlooked the whole of his existence. Now the shadow that follows Ethan is going to have to adapt to its entire environment changing overnight. Shadows are shifting and so is their lives. Watching Ethan stand next to Lucas, as a shorter, less outstanding version of his older brother, Julian pities him.

Not that Ethan ever wants pity or sympathy but Julian still wants to offer it to him. However Ethan's tangled web of feelings about his older brother may be now, he can no longer lean on Lucas' metaphorical crutch. He's going to be off balance, Julian can already tell.

 _He needs a lift between the switches_ , Julian muses.

Before the wedding, he consulted Ms. Olinski on the matter that concerned him. Ms. Olinski listened, as she always does, before she looked Julian in his dark eyes and told him that the only possible thing for him to do was to just be there.

"The Souls are enough," she had said.

Ethan glances towards the Souls and sees that they are lined up in a neat row at the back of the room. Ms. Olinski was right, as per usual.

 _The Souls are enough,_ he thinks.

 

_-_

 

Following the wedding, the couple's elation is a stark contrast to pale Ethan who tucks into the corner. Refusing to let Ethan suffer alone, Julian joins him, leaning his back against the wall and looking out at the crowd of dancing guests.

"Technically, we're too young for the real kind of champagne but here is some water...in a fancy glass." Julian offers it to Ethan. He thinks he sees Ethan's lips twitch upwards slightly as he takes it from Julian. Encouraged, Julian adds with lightness, "Don't tell anyone but I took them from the kitchen."

Ethan finally looks at Julian, sucking on the inside of his cheek absentmindedly. Lifting a finger, he gestures vaguely to the new couple before saying with trepidation, "What comes next?"

"For them?"

"For everything." A line forms between Ethan's eyes. Not everyone can see what simmers beneath the surface of Ethan but Julian is one of the rare few who can.

Weddings always make people think about themselves and what they are doing with their own lives. Ethan always heard people comment on this fact. He hadn't actually believed it until that moment when he sees his brother spinning his wife in his arms.

They're happy and Ethan wishes he could be too. Being conflicted is not an emotion he handles well.  
  
His sleeve presses firmly against his arm as Julian's thin hand wraps around his forearm. Ethan isn't used to being touched; he flinches, hoping and praying that this simple gesture isn't going to undo him completely.  
  
Julian speaks, his tone low. "I'll always be here for you, Ethan. The same way you were there for me when I needed it."  
  
It's simple. Pure. Untouched by anything other than the truest form of attachment. The words are a comforting balm to Ethan. He has always known that Julian and the other Souls are be there for him but to hear him say it aloud is enough to make the anxious clutch on his heart release it's cold grip.  
  
Ethan clears his throat to shake off the tightness that is forming. Turning his head to Julian and meeting his eyes, he motions with his glass. "How on earth did they let you walk out of the kitchen with these?"  
  
Julian smiles at the light glittering in Ethan's eyes now. Clinking his glass against Ethan's, he replies, "I have a special talent for getting away with things."

-

 

Noah sees Nadia sitting alone and despite himself, he doesn't want to see her like that. She studies him across the room and the eye contact is enough to drag Noah to his feet and towards her.

Noah and Nadia have a history with weddings. Specifically her grandfather's. By a freak occurrence, Noah was the best man. Nadia had not found his story of the events at the wedding at all as entertaining as Noah thought of them as.

She knew Noah long before the Souls but had not actually known him until they became the Souls. They briefly argued about what came first in their lives; did she meet him before the Souls or did she truly meet him the first time on that afternoon the Souls first came together? It was chicken or the egg.

Definitely an egg.

Noah stands over her until she looks up at him. "Hi."

"What do you want, Noah?"

Searching for the right words, he chooses them with care. "I..." He trails off a moment before adding with firm aloofness, "I saw you alone and decided to come over."

Nadia blinks but shows no other expression. Tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear, she dryly replies, "I am throughly touched, Noah."

And Noah smirks. He enjoys this, more than he'll admit. The push and pull of their friendship keeps each other sharp.

Nadia, despite herself, enjoys this too. Tension lets go of her. She tilts her head towards the stereo. "I think they have the exact same five songs on repeat for the entire reception. I'm getting nauseous from it."

Noah relaxes at once; he laughs, partially at her comment and partially at their own made up ridiculousness. After one of them lets go of their pride and need to be combative, they are quite comfortable around each other. More than either will voice aloud. "Thank god I wasn't the only one who noticed that."

His hand rests on the back of her chair; her shoulder brushes against it. Nadia gets up, quickly, almost stepping on him. She's been used to his cool detachment for the past several years, not these casual touches that seem to become more frequent recently. Or perhaps it's her imagination. Nothing at all. No matter what, no matter which way she looks at the recent events, she is keenly aware that she won't be an impartial judge.

"I should go find my mother."

His eyelashes flicker. He doesn't want her to leave, not yet anyway. Most boys would ask her to dance but Noah likes to believe that he isn't most boys. None of the Souls fit a mould created by the world around them. Which is why he says to her, "I don't think you know how to dance."

Not unlike when the first met several years ago after the infamous wedding and his first words to her were, "Your family is weird as hell."

And she had tartly replied, "No one asked you for your opinion, Noah Gershom."

 _He's waiting for a reply_ , Nadia realises, snapping her mind back into the overcrowded reception hall. Glasses clink from across the room; over Noah's shoulder, she sees Ethan and Julian laughing together. The sound is enough to remind her that the Souls, despite their differences, reservations and everything in between, need each other.

Noah has no one else and neither does Nadia.

Her search for her mother gets put on hold. His hands feel different in her's than she had thought they would. Softer. Gentler. He lets her lead him towards a quieter area of the dance floor, lets her have that control. She needs it more than he does.

Nadia doesn't like physical contact under any other circumstances but for this rare evening in October, she pushes aside her discomfort. Tucking her arm around his neck, his fingers enclose around her other palm and press against each other. Simple and straightforward.

Nadia almost laughs to herself. _Noah Gershom._ The last person in the world she expected ever to be dancing with. The last person she'd ever expect to inches from, finally getting a good look at every detail on his face. Behind his wire glasses, his expression is thoughtful. Calming to her usually agitated self. 

Across the room, Ethan and Julian are talking, smiling, laughing. Nadia's shoulders relax. Worry about Ethan was eating her alive. _What I can't help help Ethan with, Julian or Noah can_ , she thinks to herself. The concept of codependency, the idea of almost a family unit by themselves, it's both liberating and terrifying. She wants to believe they are a unique unit, one of illicit trust and care.

She doesn't want to believe that it's too good to be real. Nothing, _nothing_ can ever hurt as much as them one day leaving each other.

Noah's voice, close and mild, brings her attention back to the room, to him. "What's the matter?"

Nadia takes her time answering. One of the things the Souls mutually agree on is that people answer questions too quickly. "Everything happens in the world on fast forward," Julian had said once. "People need to take time to stop for tea in the afternoon or they'll never know what real, proper tea tastes like." Of course, Julian had not been solely referring to tea and the Souls understood the hidden contextual clues.

This is the thought that sticks with her as she asks, "Did we become the Souls before we joined the Academic Bowl or  
because of that?"

Noah thinks about this for a while until he speaks again. Offering her a slight smile, he says, "It's arguing _What Came First_ all over again, Nadia my dear."

Answers do not need to be methodically answered one by one. Nadia accepts that she won't know the answer. Sometimes acceptance of there never being an answer is an answer in of itself.

Beginning to feel as though she is trespassing on something private between Julian and Ethan, her eyes drift over from them back to Noah.

It's what she needs and it's enough.

The Souls are enough.

Always.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to contact me at my tumblr page PxggyCxrters.tumblr.com ♡


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